From Alumni Association President Jenifer Andrasko

AUGUST 12, 2017

As a community, this weekend’s violence and words of hatred in Charlottesville and on Grounds have profoundly saddened and disturbed us and do not represent the values of the University of Virginia alumni community. Last night, alt-right protestors carrying torches marched on UVA’s Grounds, attempting to intimidate bystanders and spread a message of intolerance and hate. Today, during the Unite the Right rally, there were numerous outbreaks of violence between the alt-right and counter-protestors, including one fatality.

The nationally covered scenes of hatred and violence do not reflect the values of our community, not Charlottesville and not the alumni of the University of Virginia. As a community, we condemn these acts of violence and reject the ideologies of hate and intolerance.

Wahoos are a diverse community and the University and the Alumni Association celebrate that diversity. In our diversity we hold true to those core values that mean so much on these Grounds and in our community: free speech and civil discourse, reason and enlightenment, inclusiveness and mutual respect. We know that the ideologies and beliefs expressed by many of the groups that have converged on Charlottesville this weekend contradict those values.

As the leader of the UVA Alumni Association, I write you today to reaffirm these principles and personally condemn the acts of violence, hate and intolerance that we have witnessed.